Coffee and tea pots have been used for centuries to brew coffee or tea. The common method has been pouring hot water over the coffee grinds or tea leafs, and allowing the water to infuse and extract the soluble solids from the brew product. A later improvement provided a straining means located near the opening's neck permitting the brewing to take place without having to sift the brew waste from the beverage. This improvement was advantageous but required removing the straining device prior to pouring; that is, removing the straining device while the brew is still hot. This drawback has been overcome with a stopper/cap that has both an opening for pouring the beverage and an opening for the strainer/filter.
Although brewing pots has advanced, and more convenient, as people get busier, they do not have time for brewing a perfect cup of coffee or tea notwithstanding a brewing pot that conveniently separates the brew waste and the brew. Furthermore, they also want to keep their beverages warmer longer so they can get the best tastes. These desires have been met with a variety of mugs, that insulates the beverage inside from the temperature outside, and has become a modern convenience that busy coffee or tea drinkers and commuters cannot function without. The more convenient and functional mugs get, the more often and more people use them. In recent years, among other changes, mug caps are improved substantially and provide more utility.
For example, a mug with a stopper or screw cap that has both an infuser, and an opening for sipping has allowed a coffee or tea drinker to brew her coffee or tea on the go as if the user takes a brewing pot with her. The vacuum mug keeps the hot water hot, so the coffee or tea in the strainer or infuser has time to brew while the user travels to the workplace. With the sipper separate from the strainer or infuser, the user does not have to wait until arriving at the office to enjoy the beverage. She can enjoy the beverage while driving without removing the strainer or infuser.
While some mugs have caps that have both, a sipper and infuser, access to the infuser requires removing the caps completely from the mugs, or a separate clumsy, inconvenient second lid. For today's busy professionals and tea or coffee drinkers, removing the cap to fill or refill is time consuming and inconvenient, and, thus, defeats one of the utilities of mugs which is to provide convenience access to beverage they want.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a spill-proof, direct-drink type cap with push-up lid, and a convenient, time-saving brew-through lid for filling or re-filling.